VB Dems' Va. Blog Carnival

This week's Virginia Blog Carnival was another attempt to set newer and higher standards of creativity. It was hosted by Eileen Levandoski, who runs the VB Dems blog -- as in Virginia Beach Democrats, for those of you in Rio Linda. First, she gave a teaser preview, describing each of the bloggers' various characteristics and tastes, and challenging readers to guess who was who. I happened to be listed second, for my submission on Bush's trip to Latin America, but otherwise I had almost no clue at all. Then she named each one, in brief fashion. Congratulations to Eileen for a good effort that paid off. Two submissions caught my interest:

Unlike me and several others, Adam Gurri actually addressed the question posed to submitters by Eileen. She asked why people got into blogging, and why they keep it up. Gurri wrote about the "long tail" style of blogging, which is what applies to me. It simply means that some bloggers carve out a niche for themselves by blogging on a consistent basis over a long period of time, to keep the interest of people who share a similar interest in topics and a similar taste in blogging styles. In fact, I cited the same article as Gurri did back on Nov. 30, 2005.

The VCAP blog responded to a Washington Post article on whether it is proper to use the General Fund for transportation. I say no, as a general rule, but on different grounds than most people cite. For me it is not so much a statutory question as an economic subsidy question. I hate public policies that encourage waste of polluting hydrocarbons, which is what happens when the government pays for highways with money from general revenues. But VCAP makes it clear that there has never been a solid "firewall" between general fund and other state government funds. It all depends on the business cycle, as the budget goes into surplus and deficit over and over again.

VCAP endorses Sayre

Speaking of VCAP, they endorsed Scott Sayre, the candidate for state Senate in the 24th District. See thenewdominion.com.* Oddly, the local news media doesn't seem aware of what has been going on. On the way to Highland County on Sunday, we saw the red Sayre for Senate yard signs in a number of different locations. It is becoming clear that incumbent Sen. Emmett Hanger faces a formidable, well-organized, well-funded challenge.

* The New Dominion is the new online magazine and blog published by Chris and Crystal Graham, replacing the old Augusta Free Press. The inaugural print edition of The New Dominion includes an article by Chris on I-81 and one about the growing (but largely invisible) Latino immigrant community in the Augusta County area. Rhonda Winfield, the Gold Star mother who spoke at the support-the-troops rally on Saturday, works with the business side of the Grahams' ever-growing cyber-enterprise.

I am elected secretary

I am very grateful to fellow members of the Staunton Republican Committee for electing me to the post of secretary at our monthly meeting last night. Patrick Carne resigned that post last month, and Alex Davis briefly served in a provisional capacity. In conjunction with my duties as Web master, I intend to work to improve relations with other Republican Party units and with the general public. I wholeheartedly agree with the recommendations made by Charles Judd, the new Executive Director of the Republican Party of Virginia, that the party adopt a more welcoming, inclusive attitude. He spoke to the local Republican breakfast meeting in January [February].

NOTE: Thus far, only blog posts related to politics and baseball are included in this list.

Blog highlights have been compiled for the years 2010-2012 thus far, and eventually will be compiled for earlier years, back to 2002.

Explanation

The "home made" blog organization system that I created was instituted on November 1, 2004, followed by several functional enhancements in subsequent years. I make no more than one blog post per day on any one category, so some posts may cover multiple news items or issues. Blog posts appear in the following (reverse alphabetical) order, which may differ from the chronological order in which the posts were originally made: